The defending MacNaughton Cup champion Minnesota men’s hockey program was a nearly-unanimous pick of Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) media to win the league in 2012-13. The annual 94X WCHA Preseason Media Poll, released Wednesday, shows the Gophers easily outdistancing the rest of the league.

A panel of 25 members of the WCHA media voted on a predicted order of finish, along with a handful of individual honors.

Minnesota received a whopping 24 of 25 first-place votes. Defending WCHA playoff champion North Dakota had the other first-place vote and finished a distant second. Denver came in third, followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota Duluth. St. Cloud State claimed the final “home-ice” position in the preseason balloting.

Minnesota junior forward Nick Bjugstad was a runaway choice for the Preseason Player of the Year besting teammate Erik Haula, who finished second in the poll with four votes. Bjugstad also anchors the media’s second annual Preseason All-WCHA Team, where he is joined at forward by Wisconsin junior Mark Zengerle and St. Cloud State senior Ben Hanowski. The defensemen on the team are Denver’s Joey LaLeggia and Nick Jensen of St. Cloud State. Sam Brittain of Denver and Josh Thorimbert of Colorado College tied for the goaltending nod. Haula and Gophers defenseman Nate Schmidt also received votes in the Preseason All-WCHA Team poll.

For the second straight year, the media chose North Dakota’s Rocco Grimaldi as Preseason Rookie of the Year. Grimaldi took a redshirt after an injury-ravaged season, and he is again eligible for rookie honors.

Minnesota opens the 2012-13 season with an exhibition contest against Lethbridge on Oct. 6. The Gophers kick off the regular season -- their last in the WCHA before joining the Big Ten Conference next year -- on Oct. 12 against Michigan State.